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Enterprises That Stopped IT Cloud Migrations Had 2.5x Outages During Global Pandemic

Scott Leatherman
Virtana

Enterprises that halted their cloud migration journey during the current global pandemic are two and a half times more likely than those that continued their move to the cloud to have experienced IT outages that negatively impacted their SLAs, according to Virtana's latest survey report The Current State of Hybrid Cloud and IT.

The survey of IT infrastructure decision-makers across the US and UK also showed enterprises that continued their migration saw significantly less missed outages, less impacted access to support services, and less visibility and performance issues.

The survey found that more than half of businesses (52%) said the new economic climate has exposed a lack of access to the correct IT tools to run efficiently, while 47% said it has highlighted a lack of visibility into their IT systems overall, and more than a third (34%) said the pandemic has contributed to missed outages in key IT performance.

"In 2020, our world is changing dramatically, and IT's role in providing critical business and communication services has become paramount," said Dennis Drogseth, VP with Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). "But to step up to the accelerating requirements for IT efficiency and dynamic service delivery, IT must itself begin to change by finding more proactive and more unified ways of working."

The report highlights how the global COVID-19 pandemic has changed IT operations and the impact remote-working practices have had on businesses. More than 75% of respondents said that machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) will be key to supporting their remote working practices. The current environment requires a transformative approach to IT and IT-to-business interaction, and the move to hybrid cloud is a central part of that equation.

"IT leaders across the globe are facing a unique challenge right now. The global pandemic has resulted in a monumental increase in IT workloads and has forced IT decision-makers to make changes to their operations overnight. It has arguably accelerated the need for digital transformation," said Ron Sege, CEO, Virtana.

Other key findings from the research:

■ Respondents who halted their migration to the cloud are 2x as likely to over-provision to ensure performance as those who continued migrating.

■ Two-thirds of respondents who experienced performance issues also cite lack of visibility.

■ The vast majority of respondents (79% ) who experienced performance issues also lack sufficient access to tools.

"What's striking is the stark differences being reported by businesses which continued on their journey to the cloud, and those that haven't. More than 30% of IT professionals stopped their company's cloud migration process, and those that did were twice as likely to over-provision to ensure performance. But this had little impact, as almost two-thirds of those who over-provisioned reported having KPI-busting outages — twice that of those who didn't halt their cloud migrations. The report shows there are clear lessons to be learned in the running of IT operations in today's climate. Businesses need to utilize advanced IT analytics and automation techniques, such AIOps, to enable and embrace hybrid cloud and IT transformation overall," added Sege.

Scott Leatherman is CMO of Virtana

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Enterprises That Stopped IT Cloud Migrations Had 2.5x Outages During Global Pandemic

Scott Leatherman
Virtana

Enterprises that halted their cloud migration journey during the current global pandemic are two and a half times more likely than those that continued their move to the cloud to have experienced IT outages that negatively impacted their SLAs, according to Virtana's latest survey report The Current State of Hybrid Cloud and IT.

The survey of IT infrastructure decision-makers across the US and UK also showed enterprises that continued their migration saw significantly less missed outages, less impacted access to support services, and less visibility and performance issues.

The survey found that more than half of businesses (52%) said the new economic climate has exposed a lack of access to the correct IT tools to run efficiently, while 47% said it has highlighted a lack of visibility into their IT systems overall, and more than a third (34%) said the pandemic has contributed to missed outages in key IT performance.

"In 2020, our world is changing dramatically, and IT's role in providing critical business and communication services has become paramount," said Dennis Drogseth, VP with Enterprise Management Associates (EMA). "But to step up to the accelerating requirements for IT efficiency and dynamic service delivery, IT must itself begin to change by finding more proactive and more unified ways of working."

The report highlights how the global COVID-19 pandemic has changed IT operations and the impact remote-working practices have had on businesses. More than 75% of respondents said that machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence for IT operations (AIOps) will be key to supporting their remote working practices. The current environment requires a transformative approach to IT and IT-to-business interaction, and the move to hybrid cloud is a central part of that equation.

"IT leaders across the globe are facing a unique challenge right now. The global pandemic has resulted in a monumental increase in IT workloads and has forced IT decision-makers to make changes to their operations overnight. It has arguably accelerated the need for digital transformation," said Ron Sege, CEO, Virtana.

Other key findings from the research:

■ Respondents who halted their migration to the cloud are 2x as likely to over-provision to ensure performance as those who continued migrating.

■ Two-thirds of respondents who experienced performance issues also cite lack of visibility.

■ The vast majority of respondents (79% ) who experienced performance issues also lack sufficient access to tools.

"What's striking is the stark differences being reported by businesses which continued on their journey to the cloud, and those that haven't. More than 30% of IT professionals stopped their company's cloud migration process, and those that did were twice as likely to over-provision to ensure performance. But this had little impact, as almost two-thirds of those who over-provisioned reported having KPI-busting outages — twice that of those who didn't halt their cloud migrations. The report shows there are clear lessons to be learned in the running of IT operations in today's climate. Businesses need to utilize advanced IT analytics and automation techniques, such AIOps, to enable and embrace hybrid cloud and IT transformation overall," added Sege.

Scott Leatherman is CMO of Virtana

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According to Auvik's 2025 IT Trends Report, 60% of IT professionals feel at least moderately burned out on the job, with 43% stating that their workload is contributing to work stress. At the same time, many IT professionals are naming AI and machine learning as key areas they'd most like to upskill ...

Businesses that face downtime or outages risk financial and reputational damage, as well as reducing partner, shareholder, and customer trust. One of the major challenges that enterprises face is implementing a robust business continuity plan. What's the solution? The answer may lie in disaster recovery tactics such as truly immutable storage and regular disaster recovery testing ...

IT spending is expected to jump nearly 10% in 2025, and organizations are now facing pressure to manage costs without slowing down critical functions like observability. To meet the challenge, leaders are turning to smarter, more cost effective business strategies. Enter stage right: OpenTelemetry, the missing piece of the puzzle that is no longer just an option but rather a strategic advantage ...

Amidst the threat of cyberhacks and data breaches, companies install several security measures to keep their business safely afloat. These measures aim to protect businesses, employees, and crucial data. Yet, employees perceive them as burdensome. Frustrated with complex logins, slow access, and constant security checks, workers decide to completely bypass all security set-ups ...

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In MEAN TIME TO INSIGHT Episode 13, Shamus McGillicuddy, VP of Research, Network Infrastructure and Operations, at EMA discusses hybrid multi-cloud networking strategy ... 

In high-traffic environments, the sheer volume and unpredictable nature of network incidents can quickly overwhelm even the most skilled teams, hindering their ability to react swiftly and effectively, potentially impacting service availability and overall business performance. This is where closed-loop remediation comes into the picture: an IT management concept designed to address the escalating complexity of modern networks ...

In 2025, enterprise workflows are undergoing a seismic shift. Propelled by breakthroughs in generative AI (GenAI), large language models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP), a new paradigm is emerging — agentic AI. This technology is not just automating tasks; it's reimagining how organizations make decisions, engage customers, and operate at scale ...

In the early days of the cloud revolution, business leaders perceived cloud services as a means of sidelining IT organizations. IT was too slow, too expensive, or incapable of supporting new technologies. With a team of developers, line of business managers could deploy new applications and services in the cloud. IT has been fighting to retake control ever since. Today, IT is back in the driver's seat, according to new research by Enterprise Management Associates (EMA) ...

In today's fast-paced and increasingly complex network environments, Network Operations Centers (NOCs) are the backbone of ensuring continuous uptime, smooth service delivery, and rapid issue resolution. However, the challenges faced by NOC teams are only growing. In a recent study, 78% state network complexity has grown significantly over the last few years while 84% regularly learn about network issues from users. It is imperative we adopt a new approach to managing today's network experiences ...

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